Fading Away
by shadowlight angel
Summary: Something happened that made Sasuke realise something. SasuNaru
1. Chapter 1

This is for Red Hill. Happy Birthday! Thank you xSlashable for Beta-ing.

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They stepped inside his house. The two of them, not just him alone. This was the first time in years that he wasn't coming home alone. Now he had to share his home. The genius ninja still remembered how and what unfortunately he couldn't say the same thing about his companion.

He was staring at things as if they were the most amazing things in the world. A butterfly was beautiful, a flower smelled nice and a tree was 'wow'. The person that could remember everything, also known as Sasuke, knew why he had to take care of him even though he didn't want to. But of course he had no choice. Kakashi had to go on a mission and Sakura said that her mother wouldn't like Naruto in their house because of his behaviour. They all knew that the clumsy blonde was not really polite and calm, but the opposite of it. Because Sasuke had no parents that would tell him that it was not an option, he was the one stuck with the idiot. The blonde was not going to thank him for it later. If that happened to Sasuke, he wouldn't thank him either.

Sasuke sighed and walked further into his house with Naruto right behind him. Just like a shadow following him around.

Sasuke turned around and Naruto almost bumped into him and gasped.

"I'm sorry" he apologized uncomfortably.

This was not like Naruto at all.

"What did you say?" Sasuke asked to be sure.

"I'm sorry" he whispered and Sasuke wondered if Naruto was afraid of him. He decided to ignore it and motioned for Naruto to follow him. He let him into the guest room. Sasuke looked at the blonde and noticed that he wasn't staring at something intently anymore.

"This is going to be your room so make yourself at home" Sasuke said and Naruto put his stuff on the bed.

"I'll be in the living room if you need anything" Sasuke went on and walked away.

Naruto kept staring at the floor. When Sasuke was really gone, he sat on the bed.

Sasuke sighed. This was harder than he thought. He had to talk and explain which he didn't like, but he did it for a friend and rival so he had to. There was no one else going to do it, because he also had no parents just like Sasuke. He heard no noise. He was quiet, which was not like Naruto. He was supposed to be loud.

Sasuke sat down with his legs crossed and started to meditate. It was calming and it helped him not to think about the situation. Breathing in and out. He heard nothing except birds chirping outside. Than he did hear a noise coming from the guest room. He opened his eyes and thought that this was not right. He couldn't concentrate.

Sasuke stood up and walked towards said room. His footsteps echoed through the house just like they had always done when he was alone.

Sasuke opened the door and saw Naruto desperately trying to fix something that he had dropped. He looked up when he saw Sasuke standing in the doorway. Fear was visible in his eyes and he backed away leaving the 'thing' broken on the floor. Sasuke stepped closer while Naruto was only stepping back until his back was pressed against the wall. Sasuke noticed it again, bit didn't do anything.

He saw that it was a tiny blue white plate that had been broken. It didn't really matter much to him because he hadn't used it. His grandfather would have been very angry because a lot of early Uchiha's had eaten from that plate. Sasuke didn't carry on the tradition. He thought that it was not important just like his father, Fugaku, who also didn't care about the stupid plate.

The blonde was still staring at him in fear wondering if he was going to punish him. Their eyes met, but Naruto looked away searching an escape. It was weird to see Naruto like this. Sasuke just gathered the shattered glass pieces and walked away with them.

A few seconds later, he came back. Naruto was now sitting on the bed, but as soon as he saw Sasuke, he shot away to the far end of the bed. This was just not right. It seemed like every moment the 'real' Naruto would appear and say that he was just joking. He would go home and make fun of Sasuke the next day. They would be friends and rivals, but that wasn't going to happen because you can't turn back time. The doctors hat told that with some help and in a familiar environment that everything would be fine.

"I'll be in the garden if you need me" Sasuke said softly and left the quiet blonde alone.


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you Red Hill for beta-ing.

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Chapter two

A week had passed and Naruto was still afraid of him. When they were on the streets Naruto wasn't afraid because there were a lot of people. Maybe it was because Sasuke seemed dark and evil. Someone that has no mercy. What Naruto didn't understand was why some girls were always following them. He had just followed Sasuke's example and ignored them.

That a girl with pink hair always knew where they were and that she was allowed to talk to was another mystery to him.

Sasuke had decided to go to Ichiraku Ramen every week. It used to be Naruto's favourite place to eat so there must some memories of the taste. He only seemed to have difficulties with eating with chopsticks. It became a mess eating there, but he wasn't going to give up.

The clumsy ninja was requested to see the doctor every week. To look if his health was still steady and most of all if he already remembered something. This week it was no. Of course he also got lessons in what he had forgotten, but was absolutely necessary, like eating with chopsticks.

Also Jiraiya decided to show up at random moments and bother them. He liked Naruto and tried to help, but not in a good way. He was trying to feed Naruto his books, but he ignored him just like those girls. He was just doing what Sasuke did. Nobody told him that it was wrong.

Today was a day like any other except for the fact that Naruto still had no memories. The sun got up and so did Sasuke. He started with his morning training which consisted out of simple taijutsu. He only had to kick or punch the log in front of him. After a while, he knew that he was hungry so it was time for breakfast. He walked to the kitchen and started to eat his meal.

A few minutes later a familiar blonde walked in. He didn't seem to notice Sasuke who watched him curiously. Sasuke saw that there was still sleep in the eyes of Naruto because he bumped into some cabinets. He opened his eyes very slightly and only saw the food on the table. He sat down infront of it.

He murmured: "Itadakimasu," and started eating.

Sasuke looked at him weirdly.How could the other boy not see him? He was right in front of him.

A thing about Naruto that was still the same, food was stillhis only attention when heis hungry. Sasuke was a bit happy about that because it could be a start of getting back his memories. In the middle of Naruto's eating he finally noticed the other ninja. He seemed to be surprised and confused. Fear returned and he left his meal where it was, running away to the guest room. This shocked Sasuke. Being afraid was something, but this was getting out of hand. He had done nothing besides watching him eat. He just sighed for the umpteenth time and cleaned up the food. Sasuke continued his training, but he also made sure that Naruto was still alive and there.

Later that day, he put some food in front of the guest room. He wondered if it was going to be eaten and what Naruto was doing in there. He decided to leave it and went on with his training.

Nothing seemed to happen in his hours of training and before he knew it, it was time to go to Ichiraku again.

Sasuke knocked on Naruto's door, but of course there was no answer. So he opened the door and saw Naruto laying on the bed obviously asleep.

"Naruto?" The blonde did look up at him though so he wondered if the other one really had been sleeping. "Let's go eat Ramen," he continued and Naruto got up.

The way there was the same as it had been the past week. Giggling girls and people watching them. It made Naruto feel safe, but it made Sasuke uncomfortable

When they arrived at Ichiraku, the owner greeted them cheerfully as always. "Hello there," he said and gave a small wave.

"Hello," Naruto replied shyly. Sasuke just gave a nod.

"The usual boys?"

"Yes."

As they ate their Ramen, Sasuke glanced at Naruto. There didn'tseem to be signs of recovery. He hated to say it, but he actually missed the old Naruto. The new one was annoying him even more. Not knowing what to say, being shy and most of all being afraid forno reason whatsoever. Sasuke had to say most things for him, not knowing if it was the right answer.

The new Naruto probably didn't like fighting unlike the old one. Maybe the blonde had to give up being a ninja. The old Naruto wouldn't have wanted that to happen. He had a goal. He wanted to be Hokage. A superior ninja. Sasuke knew that if he really was a friend, he would help him achieve that goal.


	3. Chapter 3

Sorry for the long wait. I was very busy and when I finally finished the chapter, my beta went on a holiday.

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_Flashback_

_Team 7 was chasing the enemy as fast as they could. It was their mission to find him and take to Konoha so he could get a punishment for what he did. They didn't know what he did, but if it was going to help their village than they would sacrifice themselves for that._

"_We aren't able to catch him like this" sakura told the two boys while still jumping from tree to tree._

_Naruto nodded and sped up._

"_No, Naruto. Wait!" Sakura called after him._

_Sasuke just shook his head and stayed with Sakura. He knew by now that naruto could save himself for a little while and besides, he and Sakura were close behind so nothing could happen._

_Naruto saw the enemy: Hotaru and lunged forward with a kunai, he got from his pouch. Hotaru however chose that moment to take a different direction and Naruto missed._

_As fast as he could Naruto made a seal with his hands and yelled: "Tajuu Kage Bunshin No Jutsu."_

_Thousand Naruto's appeared in front of the enemy and he seemed to be taken aback by it. Who would have thought that a stupid blond like him could do that. _

_Naruto saw his chance and his clones started fighting Hotaru. A kick here and a punch there, sometimes it hit, but you could also hear 'poof' all the time. Hotaru wanted to get rid of the clones as soon as possible. That brat wasn't going to win. The enemy grabbed a kunai and ran forwards while sticking the kunai in the clones that got in his way._

_Then he heard a faint sound coming from behind him. It was Naruto! He had gotten enough to perform another jutsu when Hotaru was busy with getting rid of his clones._

_A clone and the real Naruto were wavering in the air. Naruto had his right hand out while the clone had put his hands a bit on top of it, making it look like a circle. Something blue appeared in Naruto's hands and Hotaru's eyes widened in shock."Rasengan!" he yelled and lunged forwards. _

_A bit of smoke came when Hotaru was rammed into the ground and all of Naruto's clones went 'poof'. When the smoke cleared out there was no Hotaru, but a log. It seemed that he had used Kawarimi just in time. Naruto was sad to see no one. He thought, he had won._

_End Flashback_

Naruto stared into his bowl of ramen. Did he really like this stuff? It looked like worms. He looked to his side and saw Sasuke eating the 'worms'. Naruto turned back to his 'worms' and made a yucky face at it.

"Eat it, Dobe" he heard Sasuke say.

Who was dobe? So he looked around, but saw no one except for Sasuke of course, the jii-chan and himself. Was there an invisible person in this room? Were there ghosts in this room? He wanted to see a ghost! Maybe he was a ghost hunter in real life, naruto thought.

"Your food isn't there to stare at" Sasuke said.

Naruto looked around again. No one.

"Me?" Naruto asked innocently while pointing at himself.

"Dobe" he heard Sasuke mutter.

Silence irrupted and sasuke started eating again. Something was still bothering him. Maybe he should just ask Sasuke, he probably had an answer.

"Sasuke?" Sasuke turned his head towards him in question "Was I a ghost hunter before?"

Sasuke looked at him weirdly. Was that good?

"No, you weren't" sasuke answered. Too bad, he really wanted to be a ghost hunter. It would be cool and it would suit him perfectly. "You would run away when it is about ghosts." Sasuke continued and Naruto's face fell. He couldn't believe that.

A couple of days later Sasuke left Naruto alone for the first time. He had told Naruto that he could take some food or watch television. Naruto didn't know where Sasuke had gone to, but he didn't mind. He had this feeling that he had been alone more often.

Naruto did grab some food and sat in front of the television to watch some commercials because those always seem to enjoy him. The commercials were always very funny and he didn't understand most of them, but it was relaxing him. He could do it for hours.

Before he knew it, it became dark and Sasuke came home with the 'worms'. Naruto smiled at him and Sasuke could only look at him shocked.


End file.
